Despite years of speculation and rumors, the debut of the MacBook Neo still managed to catch the Windows PC world off guard. While a wave of proper competitors is anticipated as soon as these companies can strategize and mobilize, I was eager to assess the current state of competition within the PC landscape. To this end, I reached out to several prominent laptop manufacturers, requesting their strongest offerings to directly challenge the MacBook Neo.
When the MacBook Neo arrived last month, I knew Windows laptop makers were in trouble. For $599, the Neo offers fantastic build quality and solid performance in a sleek and ultra-portable package. Windows laptops in this price range tend to be ugly, cheap-feeling, and a little slow.
Despite years of rumors, the MacBook Neo still seemed to take the Windows world by surprise. I expect proper competitors to pop up just as soon as the companies can manage, but I wanted to see what the competition in the PC space is like now.
So I asked a bunch of laptop manufacturers to send me their best answers to the MacBook Neo.
The Disruptor: MacBook Neo’s Unprecedented Value
The MacBook Neo stands as a testament to Apple’s vertical integration prowess. This 13-inch, 2.7-pound all-aluminum laptop, powered by an A18 Pro iPhone chip and equipped with 8GB of RAM, starts at $599 for a 256GB (albeit slow) storage configuration. For students and teachers, the price drops to an even more attractive $499, and an additional $100 doubles the storage and adds a convenient Touch ID fingerprint sensor to the power button. This pricing and feature set present a formidable challenge, as there are currently no other 13-inch all-aluminum Windows laptops available in this sub-$600 price bracket. While the Windows laptops I tested carry MSRPs above $600, they are frequently found at lower, discounted street prices.
Contending with the Neo: Windows Challengers
For this comparison, I gathered three Windows laptops that, on paper, aim to compete in the Neo’s price range. Asus provided a $700 Asus Vivobook 16 with an AMD Ryzen 7 processor, currently available for around $530. Lenovo offered a $750 Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x featuring a Snapdragon X chip, which can be found for about $550. Acer contributed an Intel Lunar Lake-equipped Acer Aspire 14 AI, originally priced at $1,050 but now discounted to approximately $530. Notably, Dell and HP were in between product generations and did not have suitable current models to submit for testing.
Judged by typical Windows budget laptop standards, these three models represent good value. Each boasts an eight-core processor (compared to the Neo’s six), 16GB of RAM (double the Neo’s 8GB), and storage options ranging from 256GB to 1TB, with even the slowest among them offering twice the speed of the Neo’s base storage. This hardware specification parity, or even superiority in some aspects, suggests a competitive fight, but as we delve deeper, the user experience tells a different story.
Deep Dive: Individual Laptop Assessments
Asus Vivobook 16: A Budget Compromise
Starting with the most affordable option, the Asus Vivobook 16 is a large 16-inch laptop that immediately reveals its budget origins through a dull, plasticky construction. The chassis creaks and flexes with minimal pressure, underscoring its less-than-premium feel. While the screen offers ample real estate, its visual quality is disappointing—drab, dim, and slightly blurry. A 1920 x 1200 resolution might be acceptable on a 14-inch panel, but stretched across 16 inches, it simply falls short.
The user experience doesn’t improve significantly elsewhere. The trackpad emits a loud, hollow sound with each click, indicating poor build quality. The keyboard, though functional, feels somewhat mushy, lacking the crisp feedback desired for extended typing. Audio performance is similarly grating; music and podcasts sound thin and empty, making for an unpleasant listening experience
